Trouble In Paradise
by aer-of-ice
Summary: All they've been told is that they were found at Fourtrees two winters ago. All their lives they've been living different paths in different clans, with only distant memories of each other. Nothing is known about their past, but when strangers come and demand to know where their lost heirs are, suddenly there's trouble in paradise.


Prologue:

Crow had been running for so long, so very long. But the constant aches were no longer unfamiliar. It snapped at her, devoured any extra energy she had.

The sky was black. The sky was as black as the cat's midnight-dark pelt. And she looked just like a shadow should: silent, cunning, deadly. But the two bundles hanging in her jaws were anything but.

The two young pale-furred kittens swung precariously with every leap or bound the skilled cat made, but her grip did not loosen, though she had been moving for the better part of a moon. Her legs ached, her jaws were sore, but still she kept up her pace.

 _Good grief_ , thought the she-cat. _I need to get there fast so Sandy won't leave without me._ Crow was behind schedule - the pursuers had been closer to her than she had liked, and to hopefully throw them off course, she had taken a more complex route. Luckily, it had worked. She didn't know what she would have done if it hadn't.

With a sudden, unexpected burst of adrenaline, she lowered her head, stretched her legs further than she had believed possible, and before long she was nothing but a streak across the dark star-speckled skyline.

She didn't know how long it had been when she finally reached the appointed meeting spot. Just a few moments before the thud of pawsteps had startled her into a panic, and Crow had concentrated all the more, accelerating until she had swiftly realized that the dull thuds following her were just the echo of her own paws hitting the ground.

Her heart was practically pounding through her ribcage when she at last slowed to a gradual stop. His silhouette was dark, encased in liquid shadows. _I'm waiting_ , she had been prepared to say if he had been late. As it was, she nearly sighed in relief before remembering the kits still held in her jaws. _Well, good, he'd better have showed up after all this work I've done to get us this far._

Padding towards his, she gently she laid the dirt-streaked kittens down on a spongy pad of moss, wincing at the soreness in her jawbone. After they had been set down, both kits were letting out little squeaks of protest and pain. _Their poor scruffs,_ Crow thought first, then: _Wait, they're probably hungry, but there's n_ _othing I can do about that, is there?. I'm not a nursing queen, after all, however much I wished one day that I might._

She was so distracted with catching her breath that she had failed to acknowledge the other cat right away.

"Greetings," Sandy said, jerking her into blinking at him. The tom gave her a small, hesitant smile, before asking, "How far behind were they?"

"Greetings," she echoed, wheezing suddenly. "And by my guesses, I'd say... maybe half a day or less."

The sandy-grey tom looked fairly alarmed. " _Half a day?_ " he squeaked, looking troubled. "That can't be right. Are you certain?"

"Yes, Sandy." This time the black cat was able to speak clearly. "And that's even _after_ I went off route for a few days to throw them off our tracks."

The nervous expression on her companion's face still had not completely left. "This is bad," he moaned loudly. "Very, _very_ bad."

She attempted to calm him. "So let's talk fast," she said quickly. "Consider that we need to distance ourselves from them more, improve the short lead we've got on them right now."

"You're right," he said, taking a deep breath. Then: "I think I might know a place we can hide them, at least for a few seasons, and that's at worst."

Crow's eyes widened, and her face must have showed her confusion, for he said quickly, "Just let me explain."

She nodded slowly. "Okay, explain your idea," she said. "But for _seasons_? Are you sure?"

"Let me explain," he repeated again. "The clans." There was a brief pause, and he added, "The four forest clans, I think they're just a couple days away from where we are now. I bet that they'll take these two kits in and raise them as clan warriors."

"But my mother told me that the clan cats were cruel and mutilative savages," Crow objected loudly, staring at him with confusion in her eyes. "We can't leave kits with cats like that!"

"My mother was a clan cat named Poppyleaf," Sandy countered. " _She_ said that the clans took in strays and housecats; that they had a code of honor."

She considered this, turning over the idea in the head. "Fine," Crow said shortly. "But who's going to get them there?" Her thoughtful gaze fell on the now-slumbering kittens, still on the pad of moss. "I can get them there fast, because I'm the runner, but if I do, I'll need time to rest before I can make another long run."

There was a shake of Sandy's head. "No need. I'll take them there just before the full moon, which is three days from now. Poppyleaf always said they all met on the night of a full moon, anyways, so they could decide which kit went to live where." His green eyes shone brightly as he spoke of his mother's culture. "Besides, I know the general direction of where I need to go, while you have no idea."

Crow mock-sighed helplessly, rolling her eyes. "Okay, Sandy, I'll trust you this time. After all, I'm not going to talk you out of this, am I?" She already knew his answer, but she asked anyway, a teasing tone to her voice.

A beaming grin formed on Sandy's lips. "Of course not. It's unchangeable and I'm undeterred!"

"Of course you are," Crow said, humoring him. "Now go on your adventure, before it's too late and the kits starve." She paused once, turned away, and paused again. "Oh, and here's goodbye and good luck." She hummed.

Sandy knew why. _If this doesn't succeed, we'll both be killed for treason against the King._ But he forced a smile on his lips as Crow prepared to leave again. "Goodbye, Crow," he said, speaking with more bravery than he really felt.

Because he knew what their goodbyes really were, a simple, masked farewell. Their goodbyes meant one short sentence:

 _I'll see you in the afterlife._


End file.
